Soc Work. 2014 Apr;59(2):157-65. doi: 10.1093/sw/swu013.
Farmworkers experience pervasive economic insecurity in part because of the seasonal nature of agricultural work and limited employment protections. Yet little is known about the adequacy of the social safety net in responding to farmworker needs. Using data from the 2005-2009 National Agricultural Workers Survey (N = 10,469), the current study analyzed predictors of social welfare participation among Latinos, who represent approximately 80 percent of all farmworkers. Nearly 95 percent are immigrants, although almost half of them have lived in the United States for more than 10 years. Descriptive analyses showed that, even among farmworker households whose income fell below the poverty line or that were headed by legally documented individuals, social services use was very low. Logistic regression analyses revealed that degree of social integration influenced social welfare participation, controlling for education, poverty status, family composition, and employment characteristics. Latino farmworkers who were recent immigrants (that is, in the United States for less than five years) had significantly lower odds of access to social insurance and public assistance programs relative to their U.S.-born counterparts. Low self-reported English ability significantly decreased access to most social insurance programs but not public assistance receipt. The findings indicate the need for social workers to engage in outreach efforts and policy advocacy to improve farmworkers access to social welfare.
农业工人普遍面临经济不安全，部分原因是农业工作的季节性和就业保护有限。然而，关于社会安全网在满足农业工人需求方面的充分性知之甚少。本研究利用 2005-2009 年全国农业工人调查（N=10469）的数据，分析了拉丁裔社会福利参与的预测因素，拉丁裔约占所有农业工人的 80%。他们几乎都是移民，尽管其中近一半人已经在美国生活了 10 年以上。描述性分析表明，即使在收入低于贫困线或由合法有文件记录的人领导的农业工人家庭中，社会服务的使用也非常低。逻辑回归分析显示，在控制教育、贫困状况、家庭构成和就业特征的情况下，社会融合程度影响社会福利的参与。最近移民（即在美国居住不到五年）的拉丁裔农业工人获得社会保险和公共援助计划的机会明显低于美国出生的同行。自我报告的英语能力低显著降低了获得大多数社会保险计划的机会，但不影响公共援助的获得。这些发现表明，社会工作者需要开展外展工作和政策宣传，以改善农业工人获得社会福利的机会。
